Key result
Patients with dilated cardiomyopathy had a significantly higher rate of coxsackie virus B-RNA positivity compared to normal controls (44% vs 20%, P<0.05).
Why the study?
Is persistent viral infection (CVB-RNA and CAR expression) correlated with cardiac function in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy?
Case-Control (n=50)
Is persistent viral infection (CVB-RNA and CAR expression) correlated with cardiac function in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy?
Absolute Event Rate: 44% vs 20%
p-value: p=<0.05
Persistent coxsackievirus infection and elevated CAR expression are associated with worse cardiac function (elevated BNP) in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.
Supports viral persistence hypothesis in dilated cardiomyopathy; leaves open whether antivirals warrant prospective testing.
In our study, 50 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) were selected to investigate the correlation between virus persistent infection and cardic function. We found that 44% of patients with DCM were coxsackie virus B-RNA (CVB-RNA) positive, significantly different from that (20%) of the normal control group (P<0.05). The expression levels of coxsackie adenovirus receptor (CAR) in patients with DCM were significantly higher than those in the normal control group (P<0.01). In CVB-RNA-positive patients, expression levels of CAR were significantly higher than those in CVB-RNA-negative patients (P<0.01). There was a positive correlation between CAR expression and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level in patients with DCM, but no significant correlations between the CAR expression level and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) or left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDd). These results showed that expression levels of CAR on the surface of white cells can be used as an indicator for detecting persistent virus infection. We found that expression levels of CAR and heart function in patients with DCM were highly correlated.
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Liu et al. (2013) conducted a case-control in Dilated cardiomyopathy (n=50). Dilated cardiomyopathy vs. Normal control group was evaluated on Coxsackie virus B-RNA (CVB-RNA) positivity (p=<0.05). Patients with dilated cardiomyopathy had a significantly higher rate of coxsackie virus B-RNA positivity compared to normal controls (44% vs 20%, P<0.05).